Chinese-owned Guangde International Group Lda will start making batteries on Sunday in a factory in the northern Angolan town of Cacuaco, O País reports.

The Angolan newspaper quotes an executive of Guangde Internacional, Zhang Haitao, as saying the company has invested about US$80 million in the factory and taken on 90 Angolans to work in it.

Mr Zhang said his company intends to invest US$220 million more and take on 400 to 700 more workers to raise the annual output of the factory to 7 million batteries by 2022 from 200,000 batteries at the outset.

Given the favourable conditions, Guangde Internacional is counting on making batteries cheaply in Angola for sale at competitive prices elsewhere in Africa, in Europe and in China, O País says.